Melting Forest is a line of mushroom enhanced sparkling adaptogenic beverages available in eight SKUs, split into : four energy drinks and four D-stress varieties. All are packaged in 12 oz cans, are sugar free (sweetened with erythritol), and have between 5 and 15 calories.

We sampled five of the eight flavors, including the four energy drink SKUs (Mango Guava, Strawberry Lemonade, Black Cherry and Orange Cream) and one D-Stress SKU (Coconut Pineapple). 

Melting Forest’s big hook is the addition of functional mushrooms across the line. For the energy drinks its cordyceps and lion’s mane, while the D-Stress SKUs contain  reishi and lion’s mane.  

The energy drinks also include 150mg of caffeine – on par with most other 12 ounce energy drinks – from green coffee beans, panax notoginseng and rosa roxburghii. 

The D-stress varieties don’t contain any caffeine, but are enhanced with rhodiola rosea, magnesium and vitamin B6. In this case, the functional blend is a bit less clear in terms of how it ties back to the advertised “D-Stress” function.

On that note, we suspect that the energy varieties will have greater market potential and sell better than D-Stress.  We say this because the energy category is much more well defined than destress/relaxation and because these drinks will certainly have a more immediate function due to their caffeine content. 

Moving on to the taste of the drinks, all of the Melting Forest products taste like what we’d expect from sugar free functional beverages. Their flavor choices are definitely enjoyable (we especially like Black Cherry and Mango Guava) and, compared with other energy/functional beverages, these products have a slightly earthy note to them.  There is a decent amount of bite from the functional ingredients and erythritol, but this is to be expected for a sugar free beverage. However, we can’t help but wonder if a different sweetener choice would help, it’s definitely better tasting than many of the mainstream energy brands.

On the packaging and branding front, Melting Forest uses a printed can which gives the product a polished look The design of the packaging is whimsical and mushroom centric, with a background that is a literal forest of mushrooms with vibrant colors used to denote each SKU. 

The can has an easy to read top down hierarchy, with the Melting Forest logo and the callout for the sub-line (Mushroom Energy or Mushroom D-Stress) sitting prominently at the top of the front panel.  There’s also a small callout for “zero sugar” near the very top of the can.  At the bottom of the front panel, you’ll find the product statement of “sparkling adaptogenic drink.”

What they’ve created certainly catches the eye from its quirky mushroom centric vibe, we feel that there are a few things that the brand could optimize.  First and foremost, the visual appearances between D-Stress and Energy could make it easy to miss the differences between the two product lines. Second, “sparkling adaptogenic drink” isn’t super helpful and we’d prefer to see front panel callouts for the specific mushrooms, calories, and, in the case of the energy SKUs, caffeine content. 

In the end, Melting Forest is one of the more interesting approaches that we’ve seen to using functional mushrooms in a beverage.  It feels like a brand that could bridge the gap between cutting edge and mainstream thanks to the way that they’ve married functional mushrooms and fun and eye-catching branding in a familiar tasting sparkling format.